Best time to give one bottle a day?

[Sam's mummy]

Hello,

I would like to start giving my 5 week old son one bottle of formula a day. I am doing this purely to ensure that he will not reject a bottle later on and have decided to give formula so I don't need to express.

I am worried about affecting my milk supply and presume I would need to give the bottle at roughly the same time each day. I am unsure of what the best time would be to give the formula or whether I should use it to supplement a feed at some point in the day. What do you think would be best for my milk supply?

Thanks in advance for any advice x

 

[danielle1984]

My son is also 5 weeks old. Congrats on your LO.

Honestly, I don't think you need to supplement. I use to at the beginning, he would get a bottle of formula around 11pm because he was feeding constantly!! Non stop feeding, but after three weeks it got better (he now feeds every hour for 30 minutes) so we decided to stop the bottle. Its just easier.

 

[firsttime83]

A lot of people will discourage you from doing this, but my OH has been giving our 7 week old one bottle of formula each night before bed. This is usually the 11-midnight feeding. I personally chose this time so I can go to bed early sometimes. If I am still awake I will pump what's there and save it.

 

[Peggy O]

Our LO gets one formerly 2oz, but now 4oz formula bottle at 2:30 pm, we do it for a vitamin issue so time does not really matter in our case. I also pump at 10pm (worst time!!! Only time I have though) to have a freezer stash for when grandma is babysitting. She's 6 1/2 months old now and never had an issue with refusal...we started the bottle around 3 months old, but she had previously had a few in the nicu. If you plan to keep breastfeeding for a while you might want to pump to keep your supply up, and stash some milk for future babysitting purposes. Even though LO does have some formula, we use breast milk from the freezer when my mom babysits, to avoid tummy troubles from a sudden change in routine.

 

[Sam's mummy]

Thanks for your replies, i really appreciate it. I breastfed my first son till he was 10 months and will be going back to work when this son is 10 months so want to start giving a bottle to ensure he won't reject it. I understand the issue with supply and that expressing would be better, however I want to avoid expressing so i can spend more time with my older son and between pre school pick up and drop offs etc i think I would find it quite difficult. If I was confident he would accept a bottle later on I would avoid bottles altogether as breast feeding is so much more convenient but my Hv has advised me to start a bottle between 4 and 6 weeks. Thanks again for all your advice x

 

[Celesse]

We always gave the bottle at around 7pm...ie bedtime. It was a great routine setter and also lovely way for OH to get involved after work and spend some time with baby.

 

[BunnyN]

Giving formula so early just to avoid a possible problem at 10 months seems a bit questionable to me. If you were planning to wean at 4 months sure but I've had friends that weaned at 10 months without a problem, maybe do more reasearch or ask other mums if they had a problem before you do it just based on the advice of one hv. There are health benifits to EBFing for the first 6 months. Of course if you choose to supliment for other reasons I'm not trying to question your parenting decisions but if your just doling it because you think its your only option make sure you think it's the right choice first.

 

[Celesse]

BTW, just thought I'd add. We gave DS a bottle through necessity 1-8 weeks. EBF 8-16 weeks and introduced a bedtime bottle at 16 weeks.

However...... at about 8ish months (can't remember exactly) he began bottle refusing. He just decided boobies where his preference.

So introducing a bottle now will not necessarily have an impact on whether your baby will take a bottle when you go back to work.

 

[Sam's mummy]

Giving formula so early just to avoid a possible problem at 10 months seems a bit questionable to me. If you were planning to wean at 4 months sure but I've had friends that weaned at 10 months without a problem, maybe do more reasearch or ask other mums if they had a problem before you do it just based on the advice of one hv. There are health benifits to EBFing for the first 6 months. Of course if you choose to supliment for other reasons I'm not trying to question your parenting decisions but if your just doling it because you think its your only option make sure you think it's the right choice first.

I agree, it seems so early to be thinking worrying about what might happen in another 9 months. I know a few people whose children did refuse a bottle later on and that is what has got me worrying about it. I suppose I should start a thread asking when people introduced a bottle and how successful it was.

As I only want to get him use to a bottle I suppose it wouldn't matter if I only expressed an ounce or 2 and therefore I wouldn't have to spend too long expressing. Last time it used to take me a long time to get enough for a full feed which I why I feel like it might me unmanagable for me this time round. Think I will try this and see how it goes, I could even just do it every other day. Thanks again for your help, sorry for all this rambling!!

 

[BunnyN]

I don't think you are rambling, just thinking ahead and deciding whats best for your LO. Expressing a small amount sounds like a good idea. You can always change to using formula if it gets too much.

At 10 months a baby is almost a year old, some babies are really into their solids by then anyway. If he wont take a bottle you might just be able to mix formula in with his food? Or feed him other things like yougurt that has what he needs in them. Will you still be doing morning and night feeds, or will you be weaning altogether?

On a side note my mum EBF my sister but started giving her bottles of water sometimes when she was old enough to hold the bottle herself, just to keep her entertained. She loved it, thought they were great.

 

[seaweed eater]

Giving a formula bottle is fine, but you are right to worry that it will affect your milk supply. It will! He will be taking milk from you so your supply will drop. If you want to continue giving formula at that time long term, then it may not be a problem, but if your concern is for your supply not to drop, there really is no way to give a bottle without expressing.

If you start expressing at the same time every day, you'll soon find that you'll start getting more. Also, since you'll be expressing at work, it could help to get your body used to the pump.